ICTC History
The International Cultural Tourism Committee was among the first international scientific committees of ICOMOS organized in 1969. As early as 1965, there had been moves by the Executive Committee to create specialized scientific committees for different concerns following symposia on various subject matters. The first committee chairmen were appointed during the Executive Committee meeting on July 5, 1969 in Oxford, prior to the Second ICOMOS General Assembly. It was during this gathering in Oxford that the "Symposium on the Conservation, Preservation and Enhancement of Monuments and Sites in Connection with the Development of Cultural Tourism" was organized and a resolution adopted. National committees submitted reports on cultural properties and tourism.
In the December 1, 1969 meeting of the Advisory Committee, it was mentioned that the recommendations adopted at Oxford had been passed on to UNESCO, which Director General Rene Maheu responded to with warm praise. This encouraged the Council to pursue its research on the subject and set-up the specialized international committee on cultural tourism.
During the Executive Committee meeting also on December 1, 1969, Guglielmo De Angelis d'Ossat (Italy) was appointed as the first chairman of the International Committee on Cultural Tourism. Also invited were Arthur Haulot (Belgium), who would immediately succeed De Angelis d'Ossat and serve as long time president of the committee during its early years from 1971 to about 1985, Stanisław Lorentz (Poland), and Max Querrien (France).
The 1976 ICOMOS Cultural Tourism Charter was adopted as the result of the International Seminar on Contemporary Tourism and Humanism held in Brussels the 8th and 9th November of 1976. It can be considered the first international document focused on the need for a responsible tourist approach to cultural heritage and it also anticipated the recognition of sites and monuments as a source of economic benefit and cultural education.
In 1984, the ICTC was reconstituted with Robertson E. Collins as chairman.
Archival Documents
- Resolution adopted by the Symposium on the Conservation, Preservation and Enhancement of Monuments and Sites in Connection with the Development of Cultural Tourism (1969): English | French
- Cultural Properties and Tourism: Reports submitted by the National Committees (1969)
- Architectural Heritage and Cultural Tourism: From the Collector of Images to the Citizen of Culture (Querrien, 1969): English | French
- Draft programme of the International Specialised Committee on Tourism (1978)
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